Operating optimally

The increase in energy trading in recent years has brought significant ­opportunities but also a rise in operational risk, leaving systems struggling to keep up. Barney Brown at Detica identifies some areas of operational risk deriving from both internal and external sources, and suggests ways of dealing with them

The explosive growth in energy trading over the past four years has created significant opportunities for revenue growth, but has also brought with it increased operational risk. The greater sophistication of market participants and the growing complexity of products means companies need smarter and faster ways of trading and managing risk. Establishing an efficient operations function to support this is crucial, but is so often given a low priority.

In many cases, the infrastructure surrounding